Choosing Indoor Playground Is Simple

That is a question I have asked quite often when I tell people that I own a play café. I guess that's what happens when you introduce a totally new concept to your city.
Indoor playgrounds have been around for a little while, and there are lots of of them in our city of Burlington and neighbouring cities of Oakville and Hamilton. They are the places that you take your children to when they want to burn off their energy when it is too cold out to visit the playground, or whenever you don't want them to tear your house apart. They are the places where your kids can run around through mazes, climb ropes, slide down slides and let out all the crazy!
It was really at an indoor playground that the notion of Chickadee Family Cafe was born within my mind. I'd taken my then two-and-a-half year old to a popular indoor playground equipment play area within our hometown Burlington and strove to keep him up as he raced down slides and through mazes. I crouched into miniature corners chasing my little guy around and came out utterly exhausted (proceed, insert jokes about just how out of shape I am here).
As soon as I arose in the drama arrangements, I looked at the other parents. Many were standing around trying to keep a visual in their own kids' whereabouts. Some were calling their kids' names, hoping that they were not stuck in a maze...'cause c'mon, we all know no grownup wants to need to climb all of the way up those arrangements to retrieve a crying kid. Mostly, they looked exhausted and tired. Perhaps their children awakened at 6am too.
I had fun with my son, that was the main aim of going to the indoor playground, but in a place full of other moms and dads around my age with kids around my son's age, there was a huge opportunity for building relationship with my community that I felt was completely missed. But the atmosphere did not really lend itself to using a real conversation.
I began to research what else was out there to get some superior mommy -- son time that didn't require me to crawl on my hands and knees and squeeze my butt through a tunnel match for a toddler. I found play cafes. Play cafes are relatively new to Canada, but have been around the united kingdom, Australia and the US for several years. A play café combines the requirements of both parents and kids, fueling parents with caffeinated beverages while supplying ample play space for kids to explore and have fun.
Play cafes accept the community-focused approach of a café and include a play space for children. At Chickadee Family Caféwe provide that coffee shop atmosphere which you're used to sipping your latte in as well as an enjoyable child-friendly environment full of creative and toys based drama activities. Once the play space is closed along with the kiddos are in bed, our space can quickly transform into a day meeting area for parent workshops, a couples' date night or a meeting location for mompreneurs.
While most indoor playgrounds either don't offer food or function up fast food choices or vending machine snacks, a play café is a full sized café with espresso based beverages and a hearty menu of healthy snacks and lunch items.
A play café is a bridge between an early years' centre and your local trendy café.
I hope that helped to clarify the gap between an indoor playground and a drama café.